WinterRose, I wouldn't make "routine" a bad word in your vocabulary :-) you can routinely work in your journal or write a poem every morning when you wake up

I use to do that; write in my journal. It got so what was happening in my journal was very exciting and would pull me up in the morning to "see what would happen." Now I'm taking some classes I like and come online to see if anyone has posted in my classrooms, work on my term papers, etc. Coming here is a routine too.

I don't feel I have as much "structure" as I use to when I was working. Being retired, I still have some trouble with that; if I have a bad night and can't sleep easily, I still worry I won't get enough sleep before I "have to" get up the next morning (for work :-) and it takes a moment before I remind myself I can sleep as long as I like or take a nap later, etc.

But I have a little structure in that both my husband and I get up within about half an hour of each other and both go to our computers and, sometime before Noon and after we've had out coffee, my husband comes down and makes us a nice breakfast which is not helping me lose weight :-) Maybe structure to me has something to do with what the rest of the world/other people are doing in relation to me whereas routine is me alone.

I use to do a lot of reading and built myself some structure with that, that and recording/working with my dreams. I also work a lot on my genealogy. But the Internet has been most helpful to me; I can always find something to interest me and get me involved for a bit if I'm having a rough time. I have a very good imagination and streak of creativity so I usually can pull myself out of morasses after a bit.